The pass is basically snowed in from the start of dirt on the Breck side and is completely unrideable about a half mile in. Before that, you can make your way via an icy patch that's walked over enough. The snow is around 3' to 6' deep with deeper drifts here and there. I did grab a pair of snowshoes before I left and was able to, in perfect conditions, make the traverse from Breck to Como in about 10 hours. I pushed the bike with one hand and used a ski pole in the other. I'm no slouch, but considering the distance between Breck and Como isn't 120 miles of dirt road, nor 12 even miles, you can imagine what the pace was like.

I'm getting mixed reports from the locals of Summit County as to when the pass will be clear. Some say the record snowfall will be gone within a week, given the beautiful weather they've been having since... Saturday, while others are betting that local ski resorts (A-Basin, in particular) will be open until July 4th. Some even wonder if the road will have some sort of service done to it. I particularly doubt that, a lot of the interesting routes were serviced for Memorial Day weekend, which is also the start of camping season in CO, but Boreas wasn't touched.

I do too, as I whither without enough water (um, not a problem on this leg!) and it's also easy enough to grab while riding. It's just a Profile Design Aqua Rack and I should mention it's the second replacement. There's a flaw in the design though: the bolt used to clamp it to the seat post creates a point of weakness on one of the "arms" that holds one of the water bottle holders. With enough force, it'll sheer off right there. Not rough single-track approved. The stock water bottle holders also aren't as grippy as they could and I've had bottles fall out. For the TD, I'll replace them with just regular cages and perhaps have some sort of leash to attach the bottles to the holder. Or just use cheap gatorade bottles, if and when.

Off camera is a small backpack that also has water-reservoir capabilities. I also had my sleep system lashed on, as I found the bike floated better without weight over the front wheel - even pushing the bike from the handle bars will have some of your force pushing the bike down into the snow. What I found was it's better to push the bike from the back and let it track itself. If I had a larger pack I'd all the gear I could fit in my bag, as hiking with a load is easier (for me, with lots of long-day hikes under my belt) than pushing a loaded down heavy rolling thing.

... perhaps have some sort of leash to attach the bottles to the holder. ...

I used similar triathlon-style dual cage behind the saddle last year on the TD, and ended up using 2 mini-bungies procured in Banff to strap them down. Mine was mounted to the saddle rails and above the seat bag, using carbon cages by Bontrager (which ended up cracking and being held together with Gorilla tape even before the start). Had only one ejection (in the Flathead), which was enough to get me to refine the bungies in a cross-over = worry-free the rest of the way. Neat to see another version of it this year.

NW WY. Yesterday, I drove my truck about 12 miles up Flagg Ranch Rd on good ole washboarded gravel (Idaho side FS boundry) before snow stopped me. Could have gone further on my bike but snow was getting deeper and full coverage across the road. It's around 43 miles across that section so that leaves about 31 miles up and over higher ground to Flagg Ranch resort still. I figure there is a couple miles clear on the other side into Flagg Ranch. So doing the math... 25+ miles of unknown amounts of snow and/or muck as of 5/31. Also I have friends in Pinedale who are still snowmobiling on Union Pass. The ride out the bottom of Union along the Green River is mud right now. Looks like we are finally getting some warm weather with wind today that could spark the start of our melt run off.

Hey everyone, I have a GPS question. having a lot of issues getting route uploaded on my Garmin Vista hcx. I know all about Topofusion, but I am a Mac user. I have been using Base camp from Garmin but it only loads about 1/3 of the route. Anyone with experience with this have some suggestions? I have not had any problems loading smaller routes thanks a ton,Derek

It sounds like you are uploading the course to your route as opposed to your saved tracks. The hcx only holds 1,000 way points and that ACA waypoint data is something like 2600 points give or take. You need to upload the files to your saved tracks in chunks of 500 max, not your route! Hope this helps.

I think you all who are preparing to ride in this record snowpack year are either very brave or just plain crazy. I wonder if the bigger challenge will be crossing miles of snow, or crossing miles of mud.

I just poked at one of the snowpack sites on the route - Togwotee Pass, where in some prior years riders have had to slog through some snow. As of today there is still 119" of snow at the station. Comparing June 1st data:

I think you all who are preparing to ride in this record snowpack year are either very brave or just plain crazy. I wonder if the bigger challenge will be crossing miles of snow, or crossing miles of mud.

I just poked at one of the snowpack sites on the route - Togwotee Pass, where in some prior years riders have had to slog through some snow. As of today there is still 119" of snow at the station. Comparing June 1st data:

In order to get the track from a Mac onto your garmin, you need to create separate tracks that have less than 10000 points or whatever is the max that your Garmin can handle. From basecamp, import the GPX. Then double click on the track, opening a new window showing all 20000 points. Then delete all points after 10000. Rename. Then import it again and delete the first 10000 points. These tracks should upload to the GPS normally.